a few hydrangea questions

We have several hydrangeas, not the same variety, they all look different. Most were those little florist give plants, now grown huge. As florist plants, they were one color, but after planting them and having them grow big, they bloom differently. We don't do anything to the soil. Naturally, the colors range from blue to pink to purple. I always thought hydrangeas were either blue or pink, depending on what you did to the soil, but I guess that isn't true anymore. I have two questions:

Someone on my street has a large bush that has two different colored flowers, one is purple/pink the other is blue - how is this possible and where can I get one?? Is it possible that the flower color changes as the flowers get older, and that is what I am seeing - or could they have planted 2 small shrubs of different colors together, letting them grow together? You all should see this plant, it is gorgeous!

Also, someone gave me a 3 node stem cutting of a variegated hydrangea, she said hers has never bloomed. Are there several types of variegated or just one? If just one, what color can I expect and what is the best way to root this cutting? Right now I have it in water. Here is a picture if anyone can tell what it is by looking!

On the varying colors--if your soil pH is close to neutral, you can start to see some variation in the colors like that. If your pH is solidly acidic, everything will be blue, and if you're solidly alkaline then everything will be pink, but if you're on the borderline between the two then you can see things like what you're seeing on your plants and the one down the street with two colors. And different cultivars probably have slightly different points at which they'll start to change colors. I bet if you checked your soil pH you'd find it's pretty close to neutral. You'll also see this happen if you have amended your soil in the past to make your blooms one color or the other and over time the soil starts to drift back to its natural pH, you'll usually have a year where the colors are transitional and that tells you it's time to amend again.

For the variegated one, there are a couple different variegated cultivars, but they would be blue/pink depending on pH just like anything else. They don't always bloom as profusely as the non-variegated cultivars which could be why your friend hasn't seen blooms, or she could be pruning them at the wrong time of year (they bloom on old wood, so if she's pruning in the fall/winter/early spring she's cutting off the buds). Sorry, can't help you on rooting them but I'm sure someone else will know.

Thanks very much for the soil info!!

No one knows the best way to root my cutting? I have it in water now and it looks pretty perky, should I just dab it with some rootone and stick it in a pot??



NEVERMIND! Just saw the hydrangea cuttings thread....

This message was edited Jul 23, 2009 11:12 AM

jmp24 I saw a variegated hydrangea today at Lowe's and it looks a like the one you posted on your picture. How do they do for you? Anything different about the variegated hydrangea other than the leaves? Are the care different?

jmp - our hydrangeas by the foundation are always two colors due to the leaching of the lime from the cement, I'd guess. Sorry it's not a great shot.

LiliMerci, I don't know how they will do for me, as I only have a cutting, but the friend I got it from says that her nicely sized bush has NOT bloomed yet, and she has had it for several years. I don't think it is getting enough sun, but it does get a few hours a day so who knows? She doesn't even know what color it is, but someone says that it will be the same as other hydrangeas, that it all depends on their environment. But, I have 7 or 8 hydrangeas, 3 that get the exact same conditions, but they are all different colors.

My cutting, which I have in water, has alot of roots now. I am probably going to pot it up and keep it in the atrium over the winter, then plant it in the spring.

Pirl, your bush looks just like the one I mentioned, and now that you say it, the one I saw is also right up against the foundation of the house! Maybe that is the ticket, huh? Pretty picture, thanks for sharing!

You can plant it outside, even if you put it in a pot and plant the pot, now. I'd add mulch to the area around it and more mulch when the ground freezes (not just a frost).